Two Candidates For New York State Attorney General Square Off In Heated Debate

With one week to go before the election, Democrat Eric Schneiderman and Republican Dan Donovan took part in a contentious debate over hot-button issues in the state.

At WAMC's studios in Albany, Schneiderman and Donovan spoke on everything from legislative issues to political corruption in Albany

They debated questions including wrongdoing in the selection of an operator of slot machines at the Aqueduct Raceway in Queens. The Staten Island District Attorney, Dan Donovan used the scandal as ammunition against his opponent, Eric Schneiderman, a New York State Senator.

Donovan said, "It's the leaders of the State Senate that are being accused of this conduct. How you could not know about it is beyond me. I don't know if that's worse than not doing anything about it."

As rebuttal, Schneiderman claimed that he distance himself from the deal right from the start. On the issue of political endorsements, Schneiderman called out Donovan for being connected to Republican gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino.

Schneiderman stated, "I think you've been dodging the issue that you've been running on the Conservative Republican line with Carl Paladino, who in my view, is not fit to be Governor. You failed to distance youself from him." Donovan refused to comment on whether he supports Carl Paladino in the New York State Governor's Race. Last week's Siena College Poll shows Schneiderman with a seven point lead over Donovan. Election Day is November 2.